So the question is not are agents giving kids money, but are agents directing kids to certain schools... what relationships do they have? I think that is where a school could get in trouble.
Well that's where schools themselves could be in trouble.
Here, really the only issue is the impact on schools of the kids being punished. I don't know what will come of the big payment schools (Washington, Maryland, NC State, Utah) because all those kids are gone. I don't see the NCAA vacating any wins unless there's some proof out there the school knew, and obviously they can't punish the players who took the money at this point. So really, I think all that comes out of this story is what punishment, if any, for Bridges, Wendell Carter, Kevin Knox, Collin Sexton, right now.
The Carter, Knox and Sexton ones are particularly tough to pin any sort of penalty to, because I think all they can prove is that they met with the guy. Then Bridges you have a smallish sum of money ($400), paid to the mother. I did see someone find a sort of on point case where an agent paid a Miami player $400 to sign autographs, and the kid was suspended 1 game, and had to pay the money back. That was football, so 1 game was about the equivalent of 2.5 games in basketball. That case the money was paid directly to the kid too. I almost wonder if MSU comes out with a statement, and suspends him 2 or 3 games for the actions of his mom, and the NCAA leaves it at that.
The complicating factor is that it wasn't like Yahoo got everything the FBI had on this guy. I think they got like one balance sheet from this one specific runner. This runner is the son of a long time Michigan high school coach, which is why so many of the names that came up today (Bridges (MSU), Jackson (Kansas), Kuzma (Utah), Sumner (Xavier), Bowen (Louisville/South Carolina), and Davis (Texas)) were Michigan high school players. My guess is those were the contacts this specific runner was working.
This guy's brother actually died at an MSU basketball camp like a decade ago due to an undiagnosed heart condition.